Friday, December 7, 2007

Magnet sprung from the ashes of Natural Gas, a british 'supergroup' who issued one album in 1976 only to vanish without a trace a year later. Two of the alumni, Jerry Shirley (Humble Pie) and Peter Wood (Sutherland Brothers & Quiver) continued working together and eventually relocated from Los Angeles to New York City to form another band, which ultimately became Magnet. A&M Records were quick to offer the band a contract in 1978 and by the middle of the following year, "Worldwide Attraction" had landed in record stores all over the USA. It is not known whether the band ever toured behind the album, but Magnet were already history by the following year with Shirley rejoining a reformed Humble Pie and later joining Fastway. Wood would move on to session work for artists like Cyndi Lauper, Carly Simon and John Lennon before passing away in 1994. The activities of the remaining members are unknown.

"Worldwide Attraction" is a decent album, though there's a real mixed bag of material happening here. It seems Magnet were simply without direction, as the tracks sway carelessly from west coast soft rock to AOR and back. The result is a band who doesn't know whether they are Firefall or Survivor. For me personally, it's the harder tracks that get my attention and there are a few worth noting. "I Don't Want To Lose Your Love" and "Night Patrol" both muster enough fire to justify repeated listens. "Underneath the Moonlight" is a decent boogie rock track, though it's nothing mindblowing. The rest of the album unfortunately falls short of praise, with cliched and unimaginative soft rock being in majority. Though I've certainly heard far worse, "Worldwide Attraction" is really just a run-of-the-mill 70's rock album with a few highlights worth hearing. Take a listen and make your own judgement of this fantastic quality vinyl rip by Stephen.

i actually saw Magnet in the USA, in 1979, opening for the Kinks, who were just about to release the 'Low Budget" LP, and 'Superman' had yet to catch on...played at the college in the town where I grew up in Pennsylvania.....i remember Magnet as being pretty good, but darned if I can remember anything else!!! jim

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